Conveying machine



April 9, 1957 J. D. RUSSELL CONVEYING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 OriginalFiled Sept. 30, 1950 lflvemar: @2222 12 false. 2y

azzorve April 9, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Sept. 30, 1950 :2WM 6 Z 1 n n w r a? 6 1% a 0 v 1. 2 flfl Z 1/ 4 fl A 0 A Q/AX. 1 A w A QStates Patent CONYEYING lldACHlNE John D. Russell, Franklin, VenangoCounty, Pa., assignor to Joy Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of- Pennsylvania Continuation of abandoned applicationSerial No.

187,759,]September 30, 1950. This application February 27, 1953, SerialNo. 339,201

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-100) This invention relates to a conveying machine,particularly to a jointed conveying machine having a swingable deliveryend, and is a continuation of my application Serial No. 187,759, filedSeptember 30, 1950, and nowabandoned.

Mining and quarrying practice of late has required in- Creasingly moremechanization which, in turn, calls for increasingly flexible machines.Thus, a loading machine adaptable to mining and quarrying applicationsdesirably picks loose rock or mineral off the floor and conveys it to.some suitable transport mechanism. Thus, the loading machine isnecessarily also a conveying machine and is desirably flexible. enoughto permit considerable movement of the delivery end of the machineWithout moving the whole machine. Preferably, such a machinerequires butone electric motor to perform the several functions required. Conveyorsare desirably driven so that the work run taut, with the slack appearingin the return run. To accomplish that result, the conveyor must bedriven from the discharge end. Where only one electric motor is providedon the machine, means must be provided to transmit power past the joint.A preferred power transmittmg means in machines of this type includesuniversal joints. ,A possible solution involves the use of one joint,placed at the :axis of swing. However, that arrangement limits the swingto the angle permitted by the universal joint, which is undesirablysmall. That objection is; obviated by a drive mechanism involving twouniversal joints, as in this invention.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide a conveyingmachine which is jointed for a maximum of flexibility, and which,moreover, performs under a Wide variety .of conditions withonly a singleelectric motor to carry out the several functions, including that ofdriving the conveyor or conveyors from its discharge end. This and otherobjects are accomplished in a jointed conveying machine having a fixedportion and a swingable portion mounted for swinging movement through afixed maximum angle, the fixed portion and the swingable portion bothbeing driven (where two separate conveyors are used) from the samesingle electric motor, the drive for the swingable portion including ashaft which swings through a maximum angle materially less than theaforesaid fixed maximum angle. This arrangement divides the total angleof shaft swing between two universal joints, resulting in a greatermaximum are through which the delivery end of the conveying machine canswing.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a top plan view of a conveying machine made according to thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the machine shown in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a view in section substantially on line 33 of Fig. 2 and on alarger scale, showing details of the drive mechanism, and

Fig. 4is a top plan View of the detail shown in Fig. 3.

The invention may be embodied in a loading machine 2,788,l l4 Pat-tentedApr. 9, 1-957 made self-mobile by being-mounted on Caterpillar tracks 2and having a loading head 4 and a discharge end 6.

The loading head 4 is provided with loading arms 8 which load ore, rock,or other mineral onto the conve or which may, if desired, be a singlecontinuous conveyor extending from the loading head to the discharge endand back, and thus spanning both the fixed portion and the swingableportion. In the embodiment here shown,.however, the fixed portion andswingable portion actually carry separate conveyors. Thus, the fixedportion carries a fixed conveyor 10, here shown to be of the chain andflight type having side chains 12 and flights 14, and the swingableportion carries a swingable conveyor 16,, here shown as a belt type,mounted for swinging about a given axis which is adjacent the upper ordischarge end of conveyor 10, and which is of course the swing axis ofthe swingable portion. Conveyor 1D is hinged at 18 to permit verticaladjustment of the discharge end by means of one or more hydraulic jacks,as for example the hydraulic jack shown at20.

The swingable conveyor 16 is mounted for substantially horizontalswinging about a turntable indicated generally at 22. The turntable 22,is supported from the upper end of conveyor 10 by means of a pair ofdepending brackets, one of which is shown at 24, and one or more hingedlinks such as the one shown at 26. The link or links 26 may be hinged attheir right end as seen in Fig. 2 to the carriage of the machine. andatthe left end to the turntable at 28.

An electric motor 30. is mounted ,on the carriage of the machine anddrives a main shaft 32 which goes to a gear box 34. A shaft 36 extendsfrom the gear box to the drive for the loading arms 8.

A rotatable power shaft 38 connects the gear box 34 with a second gearbox 40, with which a drive shaft 42 connects at one end, having itsother end connecting with a gear box &3, gear box 43 being connected todrive the fixed conveyor 10. A second drive shaft 44 connects at its oneend with gear box 40 and at its other end with a gear box 45.

The swingable conveyor 16 is preferably swingable about a given axiswhich is the axis of turntable 22. The turntable 22 includes a fixedmember 4.6 which is car.- ried by the fixed conveyor 10 through thebrackets 24, and by the carriage of the machine through link or links26. A rotatable member 48 is mounted for rotationabout the given axis Ston the fixed member 46. Rotation of the member 48 relative to the member46 is made easy by a roller bearing indicated generally at52.

The swingable conveyor 16 is mountedon the movable turntable member 48by means of brackets 54. The gear box 45 referred to above is carried bythe fixed conveyor it) by being mounted on the under side of the fixedturntable member 46 in any suitable manner, as for example by thethreaded fastening means 56.

Gear box 4-5 constitutes a power transmitting member having an inputpower member or gear 58 and an output power member or gear 69 meshingwith gear 58. Still another gear box 62 constitutes a second powertransmitting member having an input power member which may forpresentpurposes be considered the shaft 64-, and an output power member whichmay for this purpose be considered the shaft 65. The voutput powermember 66 is, of course, connected to drive the swing.- able Conveyor 16by means which include a shaft 68 and still another gear box 76). earbox 62 is carried to move with the movable turntable member 48 throughthe medium of a bracket '71 secured to the swingable con.- veyor 16.

Flexible drive means connect the first-named output power member .60with the. second-named input power member 6d. These drive means includeuniversal joints 72 and 74 and an extensible drive shaft 76. Drive shaft76 is a telescoping device having a tubular member 78 adapted to receivea cooperating member 80 which has a spl ined connection therewith. Themember 80 is, of course, connected with the universal joint 72 and themember 78 is connected with the universal joint 74.

As is best seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the output power member 60 is spacedfrom the aforesaid given axis of rotation 50, and the second-named inputpower member 64 is also spaced from said given axis. The construction issuch that, in at least one operating position of the machine (that inwhich the conveyors and 16 are alined) the first-named output powermember 60 and the secondnamed input power member 64 are on oppositesides of a longitudinal plane through the given axis 50 and spaced fromthat plane, longitudinal meaning here parallel to the direction ofmotion of the fixed conveyor, or the fixed portion thereof. In thespecific embodiment shown, the power members 60 and 64 are alined in aplane with the given axis 56, the axis 50 lying between the powermembers 60 and 64, the fixed portion and the swingable portion beingalined as seen in Fig. 1.

With this arrangement, the fixed maximum angle of swing of the swingableportion may be comparatively large, while the maximum angle throughwhich the shaft 76 swings is relatively small. Thus, the aforesaid fixedmaximum angle through which the swingable conveyor 16 swings isdesignated A in Fig. 4 and is there shown as being substantially 90,while the maximum angle of swing through which shaft 76 moves isdesignated B and is materially less than the angle A, in theconstruction shown being of the order of magnitude of 52%".

It is further to be noted that the turntable 22 is disposed in asubstantially horizontal plane, with the power transmitting member 44secured to the underside of the fixed turntable member 46, and the powertransmitting member 62 being mounted at the upper side of the movableturntable member 48.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, suit able means willbe provided to swing the swingable portion under the control of amachine operator. Such means form no part of this invention and need notbe disclosed here.

Operation-4:1 operation, the loading arms 8 push the ore, rock, mineralor the like onto the fixed conveyor 10 which carries it back and up todischarge onto the swingable conveyor 16. Swingable conveyor 16 may bedisposed through a wide angle to locate its discharge end 6 in anyposition within the range of the maximum angle of swing. Swingableconveyor 16 receives the ore, mineral or the like from conveyor 10 andcarries it back to discharge into any suitable transport mechanism.

The electric motor 30 drives the fixed conveyor 10 through atransmission (not shown), through the main shaft 32, gear box 34,rotatable power shaft 38, gear box 40, drive shaft 42 and gear box 43.The drive for the swingable conveyor 16 is through the main shaft 32,gear box 34, rotatable power shaft 38, gear box 40, drive shaft 44, gearbox 45, universal joint 72, telescoping shaft 76, universal joint 74,gear box 62, drive shaft 68 and gear box 70.

As the swingable conveyor 16 swings about its given axis 50 through itsmaximum angle A (Fig. 4) the telescoping shaft 76 also swings throughits maximum angle B. The angle B is materially less than the angle Abecause of the fact that the gear boxes 45 and 62 and their elements arematerially spaced from the abovedescribed given axis 50.

It will be evident from the foregoing to those skilled in the art thatthis invention provides a much improved conveying machine in which twoconveyors are joined and are driven from a single power source throughan improved drive mechanism. It will be further evident that theinvention is applicable to a jointed conveying machine having a fixedportion and a swingable portion spanned by a single conveyor. Otheradvantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

While there is in this application specifically illustrated one formwhich the invention may assume in practice, it will be understood thatthis form of the same is shown for purposes of illustration, and thatthe invention may be modified and embodied in various other formswithout departing from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. in a jointed conveying machine having a first con veyor and a secondconveyor each with means for moving material longitudinally therealongand connected for relative swing upon a given axis, the improved meansfor transmitting power from a power driven element on one of saidconveyors to a conveyor driving element on the other, including a powerdriven drive member rotating on an axis fixed relative to said oneconveyor, an extensible shaft driven by said power driven drive member,a member driven by said extensible shaft and rotatable upon an axisfixed relative to the other conveyor and connected to drive the materialmoving means on the latter, said drive member and said driven member atall times at opposite sides of a plane which includes said given axisand which is normal to the longitudinal axis of at least one of saidconveyors.

2. In a jointed conveying machine, a first conveyor, a second conveyor,said conveyors having means for moving material longitudinallytherealong, means to support the second conveyor for swinging movementabout a given axis adjacent one end of the first conveyor, said meansincluding a turntable having a member fixed relative to the firstconveyor and a movable member rotatable upon the fixed member about saidgiven axis and fixed to said second conveyor, the improved means fortransmitting power from a power driven element on one of said conveyorsto a conveyor driving element on the other, including power driven drivemembers rotating on an axis fixed relative to said one conveyor, anextensible shaft driven by said power driven drive member lying whollywithin two parallel planes parallel with the longitudinal axis of saidfirst conveyor and tangent to diametrically opposed points on saidturntable and wholly within twoparallel planes perpendicular to thefirst mentioned parallel planes and tangent to said turntable atdiametrically opposed points, a member driven by said extensible shaftand rotatable about an axis fixed relative to the other conveyor andconnected to drive the material moving means on ,the latter, said drivemember and said driven member at all times at opposite sides of a planewhich includes said given axis and which is normal to said firstmentioned parallel planes.

3. In a jointed conveying machine, a first conveyor, a second conveyor,means to support the second conveyor for swinging about a given axisadjacent one end of the first conveyor, said means including a turntablehaving a member fixed relative to the first conveyor and a movablemember rotatable on the fixed member about said given axis, means todrive one of said conveyors, an input power member rotatably mounted onone of said members of the turntable, means to drive the input powermember, an output power member rotatably mounted on said one turntablemember and connected to be driven by the input power member, said outputpower member being spaced from a plane including said given axis, asecond input power member rotatably mounted on the other of saidturntable members and opposite the firstnamed output power member andspaced from said plane whereby the plane lies between the first-namedoutput power member and the second-named input power member, drive meansconnecting the firstnamed output power member and the second-named inputpower member and comprising a pair of universal joints and an extensibleshaft, and a second output power member connected to be driven by thesecond-named input power member and power members being mounted abovethe upper side connected to drive the other of said conveyors. of themovable member of the turntable.

4. A conveying machine as in claim 3, in which the turntable issubstantially horizontal, one of the pairs of References Cited m thefile of this patent first-named input and output power members andseconcl- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS named input and output power membersbeing mounted 399,211 Reeder Mar. 5, 1889 on the under side of the fixedmember of the turntable 984,353 Cummings Feb. 14, 1911 and the other ofthe pairs of first-named input and Out-1 1,818,168 Smith Aug. 11, 1931put power members and second-named input and output, 2,648,422 KlingAug. 11, 1953

